The present invention relates to a sing-along (so-called Karaoke) data transmitting method and a sing-along data transmitting/receiving system.
FIG. 6 shows a conventional sing-along data transmitting/receiving system, where a plurality of sing-along data receiving terminals 4 are provided so that they can communicate with a host 2 and/or a plurality of sub-hosts 3 by way of ISDN (integrated service digital network) and/or public telephone lines.
As shown in FIG. 6, each sing-along data receiving terminal 4 has a main section 10 including a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as I/F) 12, a controller 11 capable of operating for the main section 10 to receive sing-along music data through the I/F 12 and to store the data in a hard disc 13. The terminal 4 further has a speaker 8, a monitor 9, an audio player 5, either a background image video player 6 or a laser disc player 7, all of which are connected with the main section 10 on the outside thereof.
Referring to FIG. 6, the main section 10 further contains a music data decoder 14 and an audio signal generating circuit 15 which are provided to produce audio signal in accordance with the music data read from either the audio player 5 or the hard disc 13. The audio signal fed from the audio signal generating circuit 15 is applied to the speaker 8. Moreover, the main section 10 contains a character signal generating circuit 16 and a synthesizing circuit 17. In this way, character signals are generated and mixed with the background image data produced from the background image video player 6. Finally, the synthesized signals are applied to the monitor 9.
In the conventional sing-along data transmitting system shown in FIG. 6, a new melody producing section 1 is provided to compose new melodies. The newly composed melody data are fed to the host 2, and further fed through ISDN to the sub-hosts 3 and stored there. When there is a request for obtaining new melodies, the new melody data may be supplied from the sub-hosts 3 through public telephone lines to the I/F 12, and stored in the hard disc 13 by the control of the controller 11. In this way, newly composed melodies can be supplied to respective terminals 4.
When there is a request for a desired melody, such a request may be input to the sing-along data receiving terminal 4. If the melody data are stored in a disc of the audio player 5, the desired melody data may be read out therefrom. On the other hand, if the desired melody data are stored in the hard disc 13, it can be read out from the hard disc 13. In both cases, read-out melodies are reproduced through the speaker 8. Meanwhile, background image data corresponding to the selected melody may be read out from a disc of the background image video player 6, and the background image is then displayed on the monitor 9.
FIG. 7 shows another conventional sing-along data transmitting/receiving system using a CATV system. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the sing-along data transmitting/receiving system includes a CATV center 21 and a CATV terminal 22, which are connected with each other through a CATV cable 20.
The CATV center 21 contains a re-transmitting section 21a for re-transmitting television broadcast signals, laser disc players 21b for reproducing background images and corresponding melodies, modulation circuits 21c for modulating reproduced video and audio signal in a predetermined frequency band, a mixer 21d for mixing various signals and for transmitting the mixed signals through the CATV cable 20.
The CATV terminal 22 includes a converter 22a and a TV receiver 22b. Besides, it is also possible to include an audio stereo equipment to improve acoustic sound effect.
In the system shown in FIG. 7, if a sing-along shop (CATV terminal 22) has a request for a desired sing-along song, such a request may be transmitted by telephone to an operator of the CATV center 21. Then, the converter 22a of the CATV terminal 22 is operated to select a sing-along channel. After waiting for a while, the desired sing-along melody and image are reproduced in the CATV center 21 and are transmitted to the CATV terminal 22 through a selected sing-along channel by way of the CATV cable 20.
In order to eliminate the inconvenience of requesting a desired sing-along song by telephone, there has been suggested a further sing-along transmitting/receiving system using a two-way CATV system, as shown in FIG. 8. The system has a CATV terminal 24 including a converter 24a, a TV receiver 24b and a remote controller 24c. The converter 24a is used to transmit a signal requesting a desired sing-along song to the CATV center 23 by way of an up-stream channel of the CATV cable 20. Then, a controller 23e operates to control a laser disc player 23b so as to reproduce the desired melody and image. The reproduced data representing the desired song are transmitted to the terminal 24 through the CATV cable 20.
However, the above conventional sing-along systems have the following disadvantages.
In the system shown in FIG. 6, each sing-along data receiving terminal 4 is required to include an audio data player 5 and a video data player 6. In detail, it is necessary to employ an audio player having a disc changer capable of receiving many audio discs containing the data of at least 10000 melodies. Further, it is also necessary to employ a video player having a disc changer capable of receiving many video discs containing the data of at least 80 patterns of background images. As a result, a sing-along shop has a high burden in equipment investment and daily management.
In the systems using CATV as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, since there are only limited number of channels for data transmitting, it is merely allowed to have at most 10 terminals (22 or 24) for independently performing sing-along service at the same time. In particular, in the evening of a weekend when there are many customers for sing-along playing, it is often required to stop television retransmitting service in order to ensure sufficient sing-along services.